The D&D Chronicles: The Adventure Begins

by TurboTasticKingCandy

A group of friends, who are fans of playing Dungeons and Dragons, learn that the world of their game is real, and is closer to their home than they think. Soon, together with the help of fantastical allies of Elves, Drawfs, Trolls and other mystical and bizarre creatures, must save their home and the D&D multiverse from forces of evil, or all will be lost.

22. The Beast Within

The D&D Chronicles: The Adventure Begins

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Chapter 21: The Beast Within

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Delta Rune, the Hero's Forge

Rayla was quite a swordsman.

Or swordsgal.

Swordself?

Patrick was trying figure out how complement her as they continued their sword fighting training, both of them fighting training dummies made by Grobar (it turned out during one of his training, Patrick learned that Grobar and his family helped out constructing the Hero's Forge, mostly of it's animatronics, gadgets and obstacles).

He, meanwhile, was trying to keep up with her sword skills, as she was quite a pro with her twin blades to him still getting the hang of his Vorpal sword, as he used it to deflect some of the attacks the totem animatronics were firing at him just as he would use his shield.

Blinky watched Patrick with intrigue, standing quite close but somehow never getting hit by anything. Maybe the Forge had been built for the specifics of only gruesomely damaging Paladins and any other fighters.

As he trained, Patrick would see Asriel nearby, seemingly trying to mimic his movements, using a wooden toy sword for practice of his own, hoping to fight well like him (besides having learned a few feats of magic as well). Patrick couldn't help but smile at this before continuing his training.

Soon enough, another totem with rows of holes rose out of a slit in the ground, this time from her left. He had no warning as a group of stone arrows raced towards him, narrowly missing their target as he sprinted away, pivoting in the air to slash down and sever the arrowheads.

If Patrick was being honest, he felt like he was starting to get pretty good.

"Very good, Master Patrick," he heard Blinky say, "don't forget to be afraid beside having courage."

"Always remember, fear heightens your senses, fear keeps you alive…" Blinky stated to Patrick, who then acted smug and proud for being quite good… only to be knocked down by a fired rock from behind, as his tutor added, "arrogance gets you killed."

"Yeah… I'll be sure to remember that…" Patrick groaned, as he slowly got back up.

"Of course, Kriv only has courage in him, without fear keeping him balanced, that would be his weakness." Blinky pointed out to him, as he helped him up a little, allowing the Paladin to once again continue his training, "But you will have your strength as you will face him, sword drawn out to him."

As Patrick continued his training, just then, the ground started to shake a little, causing him and Asriel to lose their balance, while Rayla managed to keep hold of her's.

"What in blazes was that?!" she asked, a little annoyed, before looking to the sidelines where some of Patrick's friends, Chris, Callum, Ezran and Chuckie were with AAARRRGGHH!, the skeleton brothers and Grobar.

Chuckie, meanwhile, was all dressed up in his gym clothes, doing some jogging with AAARRRGGHH!, only for the big troll to do a few too big stomps, but stopped upon hearing Rayla.

"Sorry about that," Chuckie replied as he explained, "but if Patrick's gotta be nimble, I gotta be nimble too. Don't want to be too big."

The big troll had a look at himself, as Chuckie realized what he said, and worried he might have upsetten him, as he quickly added, "Not that there's anything wrong with being big."

That earned a smile from AAARRRGGHH!

He then showed on his right wrist a special watch, "With this special Chubby-Tracker, not only will I be getting fit to help my pals, I'll be getting some cool swag as bonus points!"

The Chubby-Tracker beeped, and Chuckie checked his phone, as he smiled, "Bingo! Got the sports cup! 5 calories burned!"

"Chuckie, I'm pretty sure you're gonna be just fine just as you are." Patrick said, a little exhausted, "And besides, we get plenty of exercise from running to and/or from danger."

"And you can still get rewards after completing challenging tasks and missions too." Asriel added, as he came to join in.

Rayla looked at Patrick and saw that he was a little out of breath.

"You okay… Patrick, was it?"

"Yeah," Patrick nodded, "maybe a little thirsty."

"I would like a drink too, if that's okay." Ezran said, as he and Callum came up to them.

"Hold on, I think I have just the thing…" Rayla said, as she then scavenged something from her vest, until she got it out, "here, drink this."

The three boys looked at what she held, revealing it to be a glass bottle, but the liquid inside it looked quite… red. Very red.

The older boys looked a little uneasy, until Callum stopped his brother as he was about to reach for it, "Uh… no thank you. We don't drink… that."

"Wha…?" Rayla asked, a little baffled.

"Blood. We don't drink blood." Callum explained, a little awkwardly, "We didn't mean to be rude or anything, so…"

His words were cut off by Grobar's chuckles, as the dwarf came up to them with Blinky and the others, "You think that elves are literally bloodthirsty or something?"

Callum looked a little uneasy, especially as Rayla looked a little annoyed (and probably a little hurt) upon hearing that, "Well… I just thought…"

"It might not look like much, but it's actually moonberry juice." Grobar said.

"Moonberry juice?" Ezran asked.

"It's one of the exoctic types of fruit that you don't quite see around in this realm," Grobar explained, "moonberries are special types of berries that grow in the light of the moon instead of daylight, and they make the best juices or even toppings for food and baked goods as well."

"I love moonberries too!" Asriel said, "They make the best jam for scones!"

"See, even Prince Asriel says he likes them," Rayla smiled at that, and then opened the bottle and gave it to Ezran, "Here, have a sip."

Ezran took a small whiff of it, and then gulped a sip down, afterwards, he let out a smile as he said, "Hey, it's not bad."

He gave Patrick the bottle, and deciding to give it a go, took several sips, and a small smile also came on his face, "Yeah… it's sort of like some sort of fizzy Ribena!"

"Precisely, Master Patrick," Blinky said, "this type of juice is just the thing that most Paladins of old, as well as other great warriors, drink at times. In fact, one good sip would give them enough energy for a day or two, more so than any of the other types of energy drinks you humans enjoy. No doubt it could help you out on this training for Kriv's fight and-"

Blinky's word were cut off, as while he was listening, Patrick saw another animatronic appearing, ready to strike, but thanks to the moonberry juice, he instantly used all his might to throw his sword, striking down the target, much to the amazement of the others, leaving Blinky quite awestruck.

"Do that, and I'll have no you'll defeat Kriv." Blinky said, proudness in his voice on the last part.

As the group started to get ready to go, and Patrick collected the Vorpal Sword, they walked past the certain Dragonborn, as he was accompanied by a few of his mates, Kriv having with him a large Greek Dipylon-style shield (a metal circle with sections missing on either side) on his back, and in his claws were two weapons of his own.

In his right claw, carrying it on his shoulder, was a single-edged greatsword with a clockwork mechanism of indeterminate nature built into the space above the hilt and a pair of parallel handguards is set beneath. A pair of what looked like shotgun barrels are also situated on either side of the main blade, although it was unknown whether they could be functional in that state.

In his left claw, was a giant hammer, with the handle decorated with small gems.

"Hey, look guys," Kriv said, as he walked by Patrick as he spoke, "it's training. Cute."

This earned a few mean chuckles from his friends, as Kriv muttered something that the humans didn't understand, though no doubt it could have been hurtful.

Patrick looked back at the Dragonborn, as he and his friends began training, while Blinky came up to him with a bit of support.

"Do not worry, Master Patrick," he said, "remember that you are perfectly balanced with courage and fear. Something that will keep you alive. Let his arrogance lead him astray."

Patrick smiled a little at that, especially as he added, "Defeat him, and you'll make history."

"Well said, six-eyes," Sans winked with approval, "Patrick will definitely need that talk so he won't let his friends and family down."

"Speaking of which, where are your sisters, anyway, kiddo?" Papyrus asked Patrick.

"Oh, well, the twins are currently out for the moment, and while Taylor is taking care of Kira, with a bit of help from Alfur, Hilda is with Luz, her friends and even Twig." Patrick replied, "King wanted to do a bit of lessons with them since they will be at the Owl House for a while, while our mum is at work for a bit."

"Oh yeah, that's right!" Asriel said, looking forward to seeing his aunt again, as he hurried on ahead as he called out, "C'mon, we're gonna be late for King's lesson!"

"That cute little furball? Teaching?" Papyrus raised his left eye.

"That would be something we gotta see." Callum chuckled a little with Ezran.

---

Meanwhile, the Owl House, a little later…

"And here we have the most fearsome creature in the world, the king of demons." Luz narrated, as she was using her phone to record King in one of his greatest battles yet… a sock that was placed on his muzzle, "Facing his natural enemy, the ducky sock."

Luz, Hilda, Frida and David giggled at this site, until King finally got the sock off him, tearing it to pieces as he grunted, "Where are you now, ducky sock?"

As Luz and the young friends continued to giggle, David looked to Hilda and Frida as he admitted, "You know, I have to admit that this is really nice."

"Glad you're enjoying it, David." Hilda smiled.

"And besides, seeing King like this is just too sweet to be scared of." Frida cooed at King.

Just then, Patrick, Chris, Chuckie, Callum, Ezran, Asriel and Rayla entered, as the former spoke, "Hey, guys."

"Hey, Patrick," Luz smiled, "you just missed the most adorable moment that King was doing."

Luz showed Patrick the video of King's struggle with the ducky, earning a little chuckle from the Paladin, while Chuckie looked around and asked, "Where's Eda?"

"Eda's just out at the moment, doing another delivery at the moment," Hilda explained, "so we decided to keep King company until she gets back."

"Excuse me, but I called you all here for some teaching, thank you very much." King counter spoke.

"So, why'd you call us here again?" Luz asked, finishing showing the video to Patrick, before starting recording again, videoing the King of Demons.

"Oh, I'm glad you asked." King said, as he climbed up a table with a grunt.

"Yeah, this is definitely going to be good." Patrick smirked to the others, until King spoke.

"Humans," he started, "you've all been so obsessed with Paladin work and witchcraft that you haven't got the chance to learn anything about my kind. Prepare yourself for…" King then took out the curtain to show many photos on a billboard, as he put on a teaching hat as he finished his introduction to… "Demons 101!"

The group looked to King as he explained, "Demons like me are grim tricksters of the twilight, creatures of sulfur and bone."

"And cute little paws." Luz cooed, earning several giggles from the others.

King groaned a sigh at that, "And cute little paws. True." he then continued, "We live mainly to create chaos and misery. Our known weaknesses included purified water and passive-aggressive comments. Sometimes."

"Oh, you guys are sensitive." Luz awed.

"Indeed, even demons have inner demons." King nodded in agreement, before showing a picture of a strange, creepy looking creature with a spiky shell, "One of the most terrifying demons of all is the Snaggleback. He's a-"

"Bad boy!" Luz said, as she did some editing during the recording, such as putting up many stickers and text, as the others grinned and giggled at that.

"Guys, pay attention." King stated, "This information could save your life someday."

"No, no. We're so paying attention." Luz said "This is my 'paying attention' face." she then made a serious look as she nodded, "Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm."

Just then, a rumble sound came from outside.

"Uh-oh. Looks like it's gonna rain." said King.

"Are you kidding, I love the rain." Luz smiled.

"Hold up, I remembered checking my weather app on my phone," Patrick said, having another check, "it says here that we'll be expecting a bit of hail coming today."

Luz opened the door for a second, and sure enough, a few bits of hail fell to the sky, until finally it started to pour down with hail.

"Do you think Eda will be alright if she came home through this?" she asked.

"Don't worry, I'm pretty sure she's fine." King pointed out.

"And besides, the hail won't be long, it'll pass." Patrick added.

"Incoming!"

The sound of Eda's voice caught their attention, as they saw Eda flying in fast on her staff, but it seemed like she wasn't stopping, resulting in the others to fall into confused panic, just as there was soon a crash. Soon Eda had arrived back just time for the hail to fall.

"Phew! That was close." Eda said, as she got off her staff, "But the important thing is you and the others didn't get hurt."

Unfortunately, they were, as most of the group, in a pile after the Owl Lady had crash landed into them upon entering the Owl House.

"Yeah. Not hurt." Callum groaned with sarcasm, as a cup landed on his head, "They're not paying me enough to take this kind of abuse."

---

Later…

"I don't seem to see this hail passing yet." Rayla muttered aloud, as it was still hailing outside, and it was hailing down hard.

Patrick had got a phone call from Taylor, saying that their mum was still at work, and that since the weather was still a little bad, she would wait until it was clear for her to come home, and after she told her that Patrick and Hilda were at a friend's house, stated to stay inside until the storm cleared.

Right now, most of the others were outside, sheltered from the outside roof under the front door, while Eda had up some sort of umbrella bubble over her head (no doubt a magic spell for that), as she was doing something that would be preparations for some sort of spell.

King, meanwhile, had just finished patching Luz, who had her hoodie on, with a cute bandage and placed one on the bridge of his skull nose, "Look, now we're boo-boo buddies."

Luz just squealed at this, falling into a fetal position as she looked up to King with a smile, "Oh, my gosh, I love you so much."

"So, how long is this rain gonna end, exactly?" Callum asked.

"Maybe a few hours, give or take." Patrick replied.

"At least this isn't boiling rain like in the Grim Realm." Eda said, as continued with her spell-making.

"Boiling rain?" Hilda asked.

"Yep," Eda replied, "you see, it's one of the dangers you have to avoid when living in the Grim Realm, as they don't have weather. They have plagues. Tons of them, like gorenados, shale hail, painbows…"

"It's like a rainbow but looking at it turns you inside out." King explained.

"And to think that getting too much sun was bad enough…" Callum mumbled.

"And if the boiling rain doesn't get you, the Snaggleback will," King then said, opening up a book, showing the Snaggleback images, as he wanted to continue the lesson, "They wander the rains, be it normal or boiling ones, feeding on wet tourists."

"Well, whatever the case, this force field spell should protect the house from this hailstorm…" Eda said, before adding with a smirk, "and made-up demons."

"Hoot! Well, hurry it up with that force field." Hooty stated, "That hail may be getting too close to my precious stucco."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it." Eda said, as she used her staff to grab the light ball she made and stamped the staff down to the ground, which then created a force field spread through the house and protected it, impressing the others.

"Wow. Someday I'd like to be as cool as Eda the Owl Lady." Luz smiled, as she took her hoodie off and watched as Eda returned back to the house, brushing a bit of her hair behind her ears, looking quite foxy in the process, "Magical, sassy, surprisingly foxy for her age."

"Yep," Asriel nodded in agreement, "and it's those things that make her the best auntie too!"

"Hey, I'm curious," Hilda then asked, "why do they call you the Owl Lady, anyway?"

"'Cause I'm so wise." Eda proudly said.

"'Cause she coughs up rat bones." Hooty cut in, much to Eda's annoyance.

"Ick!" Chuckie, David, Frida and Ezran said upon hearing that.

"I think it's 'cause she gets distracted by shiny objects." King then said.

"No, I don't." Eda denied, until King took out a pen. He clicked it, and the diamond on top glowed, causing Eda to be delightenly entranced by it, "It sparkles and shimmers. It shines and delights. I must have it for my nest…"

Eda, like a cat, jumped to grab the pen and catch it, only to King to swipe it away before she could, and the Owl Lady landed with a thud.

"You have a nest? I want a nest!" Luz said with intrigue, "Nest party!"

Ignoring that, Patrick and Rayla helped Eda up, as she tiredly stretched as the former asked, "You okay, Eda?"

"Ugh. That force field really took it out of me." Eda groaned.

"Uh-oh. Moving a little slow. Age finally catching up to ya?" King teased, only to scream as Eda, annoyed with that comment, hooded his head with his teaching hat, "Ah! Darkness!"

As Eda headed inside, Luz was a bit excited, "This is perfect. Since we'll be stuck in the house all night, Eda won't have any excuse not to teach me a spell."

"But don't you wanna finish our lesson?" King asked, looking a little upset, "I was gonna let you scratch a demon's tummy. Me!"

"Oh, uh, sorry, King." Luz apologised, feeling a little bad on not being with the cutest creature she had ever met, "But... magic."

As King grumbled as Luz went inside to see Eda, Hilda comforted him as she said, "Don't worry, King, we can still be able to enjoy a bit of creature learning," she then looked to her friends, "right, guys."

"Sure." Frida nodded.

David nodded in reply also.

King sighed, before looking at Hilda as he said, "Thanks, guess that made me a little bit better…"

Eda, meanwhile, went through a dressing zone, and with a snap of her fingers and a flash of light, she appeared through the other side in her pajamas, letting out a small yawn and a small scratch on her back, before laying down comfortably to rest on her sofa… only to get startled to see Luz appear over her.

"Oh, Eda, have I told you how rad your fang looks today?" Luz said, trying to persuade her to teach her magic by complimenting her.

"Whatever it is, no." Eda simply replied.

Luz tried again, "Uh, and your hair is like… girl."

"I'm not teaching you magic tonight. I'm sleepy." Eda replied, covering herself with a blanket, "I'm a sleepy little owl."

"Please, Eda, please." Luz begged, "How am I supposed to earn my witch's staff if I don't know any spells?"

"C'mon, Auntie Eda," Asriel pitched in for Luz, "can't you at least one bit of magic with her, and for me too?"

"Don't you start too." Eda grumbled a little.

"Please?" both Luz and Asriel begged.

"No. Sleep." Eda repeated, before covering her whole head with blanket, and snuggled down to sleep… until her eyes snapped open at the sound a clicking noise.

"Sparkle thing." Eda quietly gasped, coming out of the covers and saw Luz holding the pen, clicking it repeatedly for the sparkling diamond to come on and off.

"Oh, this?" Luz smirked, showing off the pen and the diamond that was on top of it.

Eda tossed aside the blanket in favor of perching on the arm of the couch, looking in awe at the sparkly diamond on top of the pen, while Luz moved the pen tauntingly.

Eda swiped for it, only for Luz to say, "Nope." as she moved it from Eda's grasp, as the Owl Lady fell with a thud, much to the humor of Asriel and the younger kids.

Eda looked up to Luz and Asriel, the former still holding onto the pen, as they both smiled as Luz said, "Teach me one spell, and I'll give you your sparkle thing."

"She's got you there, Auntie." Asriel grinned.

"I respect your cunning, you two," Eda complimented, before grumbling, "but I also hate you for it."

---

Eda was soon up again, staff in hand, as she looked to Luz, Asriel, Patrick and the others nearby watching as well, as she prepared to teach them about magic, "If you want a witch's staff like mine, don't make me repeat myself…" Eda yawned a little, as she seemingly started to doze off, but snapped back awake as she continued, "Witch's staffs have power embedded into them."

"Gimme!" Luz said, as she held out her hands, earning a small stern look from Eda.

"But before one is earned, every witch, wizard and other type of mage needs to know how to cast spells on their own." Eda said, as she tossed her staff away, and brought up her hand, "Now, tonight, I will show you how to create… light."

She then drew a circle by her finger in the air, which it glowed and burst out, leaving behind a glowing ball of light, much to the amazement of the others.

"Yawn!" mocked King, ruining the moment.

"Who needs another boring spell lesson when you could be learning all the fun ways a demon could kill you." King said, as he brought up a doodle of a monster with large teeth, "Look how teethy. Bite, bite."

"Not now, King." Hilda said.

"You heard her, be quiet." Luz added, "I need to focus."

"Now, humans think some magic is made out of thin air, but that's stupid. Everything comes from something." Eda explained, "Let me ask you, kid. Where do you think magic comes from?"

"Uh, from the heart?" Luz replied.

"Luz, that's just a lazy excuse that most would say when explaining something complex about magic!" Callum pointed out.

"Actually… she's right." Eda said, earning a gasp of joy from Luz.

"Really? You're not joking?" Patrick asked.

"No, really." Eda said, as she pulled out a diagram of viscera from her hair and showed it to Luz and the others, "It comes from a sac of magic bile attached to a Mageling's heart."

That made the kids gag a little.

"Oh, gross!" Luz said, before grinning, "Can I keep that?"

"No." Eda replied, as she put away the diagram.

"Hold up a second, did you say Mageling?" Patrick spoke up, asking the question to Eda.

"Yes, I did," Eda replied, looking at Patrick.

"You don't know what a Mageling is?" Rayla asked as she looked at him.

"I can honestly say that none of us do." Chris pointed out for Patrick.

"Well, if you must know, Magelings are kind of a lot like humans," Rayla explained, "with only a few differences. Such as, besides the bile sack that is connected to their hearts, the pointy ears."

"But don't you have pointy ears too?" Callum asked.

Rayla looked at Callum and replied, "Well… yeah… but that's because I'm an elf. Though it can be a little confusing at times… but of course, while we elves can live longer, magelings and humans have a shared lifespan, though magelings can find ways to prolong their life by magic. And they can even have a variation in other traits, such as a number of eyes."

The humans were a bit intrigued by these new types of species, as they nodded with interest as Patrick looked to Eda and said, "Okay, you can continue, Owl Lady."

"Alrighty," Eda said, as she continued the lesson, "Now, everything depends on something to cast magic spells, such as potions, drawing runes, using wands, staffs or other items, or even speaking incantations, but for this lesson, we will start with one of the basics, being in my case, the spell circle." She then drew another circle in the air, creating another energy orb of light bursting out of it, "The bigger the circle, the more powerful the spell."

While amazed by how Eda did her magic, she raised her right hand while scratching her chin with her left as she then asked, "But how can I, little ol' Luz, do spells if I don't have a magic bile… sac?"

Eda looked at her apprentice as she was about to say something… until said with confusion, "You know, I'm not actually sure."

"What?!" the others exclaimed.

"But you're a witch!" Chris pointed out, "You're supposed to know about how this magic stuff works!"

"Hey, I know how witches did magic differently in the past," Eda admitted, "but I never bothered to figure out how to fully learn how."

"Eda!" Luz sighed with a small bit of annoyance, while Patrick brought his fingers to the bridge of his nose with annoyance.

"Don't worry." Eda smiled, scruffling Luz's hair, as she looked to Asriel and Rayla, "I'm pretty sure that these two can help a little on that."

"You mean it, Auntie Eda?" Asriel smiled, "You want me and Rayla to help talk about magic?"

"Knock yourselves out, kids." Eda smiled with a wink.

"Thanks, Auntie!" Asriel said, as he came up and hugged Eda, before looking to the others.

"Well, I suppose this is better than nothing," Patrick muttered to the others, who nodded in agreement, "not to mention we can learn more on magic easier with an learning expect."

"I heard that." Eda grumbled aloud, startling the worried kids, while Asriel and Rayla giggled at that.

Asriel looked at the kids and spoke proudly, a little bit remembering about the stuff that his home-schooling teachers told him through most of the weeks, "Okay, Luz, guys, you know much about some of the magic you've seen and learned about, don't you?"

"You mean like the magic and spells that you, our friends from Hexside and even what Eda did?" Luz asked.

"That's right," Asriel nodded, "for what my mum, dad, Mr. Cedric and some of my other teachers have told me, those types of magic are one of the many types of magic that expanded, evolved and/or even formed from the original Primal Sources of magic."

"Primal Sources?" Callum asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Let me show you." Rayla said, as she asked for Patrick's drawing book, and drew several symbols on an open page, once she was done, the kids looked at each of the symbols. On the top was an sketch of a diamond star with a circle around it, the second had three flames seemingly going in a circle form, one was a circle that seemed like it had something pieced, with a tail end line sticking from one corner and out from the other side, the 4th one looked like mountains, the 5th looked like waves forming in a circle, the 6th was like a breeze of wind. The 7th symbol in the middle was what looked like the Ying-Yang symbol, though around that symbol, it also featured a six-pointed star and another circle within it too.

"The Primal Sources are the original and purest forms of magical energy," Rayla explained, as she pointed to each symbol respectively, "the six of them being the Stars, the Sun, the Moon, the Earth, the Ocean and the Sky."

"So the magic from when Miss Willow used to make the plants grow from the seed, Master Gus's magic to make illusions or even Miss Amity's magic to summon and control Abominations, they all originated and adapted from the original six." Asriel stated.

"That's pretty cool." Hilda said with amazement, Luz nodded in agreement.

"Can you explain more of these Primal Sources of magic?" Luz then asked.

"Of course," Asriel replied, "one known example is that most mystical and magical creatures have a special connection with each one of the primal sources of magic."

He then gestured to Twig and added, "Take example Twig, Deer-Foxes like him, while shrouded with mystery, are connected to the Star Primal magic."

"Really?" Hilda said with amazement, as she looked to Twig and stroked him, "So you have a special connection with the stars? That's wicked."

"Besides that, how do you think I'll be able to find a connection to magic," Luz asked, "be it from one of these Primal ones or something like that?"

"Don't worry, Luz," Asriel replied, "I'm sure that as Mr. Cedric and my parents would say about learning magic, you'll be able to conduct spells, you just find your connection."

"I would really like to find that." Luz smiled.

"What about the 7th one?" Patrick asked, pointing to the 7th symbol that was in the middle.

"That, my boy, would be Dark Magic." Eda replied.

"Dark Magic?" Callum asked.

"Yes," Rayla nodded, looking a little uneasy as she said that, "Dark Magic is a bit of a skeptical method of magic."

"How so?" Luz asked.

Asriel was about to reply, until Rayla eyed him a little as she looked back at Luz and said, "That's all you need to know."

She then looked at the others as she sternly added, "All of you…"

"But, there has to be more about this Dark Magic as well as the other stuff!" Luz stated.

"Don't worry, kid," Eda grinned, as she patted Luz's shoulder, "I'm sure you'll figure it out. Now-" she then yawned and stretched, causing her back to make a cracking sound, "I need to lie down."

"W-wait! I need to see you do the circle thingy again." Luz said, as she got out her phone, "I'll record it on my phone this time."

Eda just groaned a little, as Luz pressed record on her phone, "Smile! You're on camera. One more spell won't kill you."

Eda groaned more as she said, "Fine." she then started to draw another spell circle, as she said, "Now, you see, the… spell circle is really… key because…" as she did the spell circle, the magical lines wibbled and wobbled, before disappearing as Eda yawned, "Ooh, boy…"

And then she fainted with a thud.

"Welp, looks like one more spell killed Eda." King sarcastically.

"Oh, my gosh!" Luz yelped, as she rolled Eda over, laying her on her back, "My obsession with spells knocked out Eda. I'm a monster."

"Calm down, Luz," Frida said, "I think she's out cold."

King came up to the passed out Owl Lady… and spanked her face, "Bap!" he then looked to the others, "Yep. She's out." he spank her face again with a mischievous giggle, "Bap!"

"King, cut it out." Ezran said to the King of Demon, who kept spanking until he was told to stop.

"Just making sure." King said.

"We should get help, right?" Chuckie spoke up

"Don't worry, she's gonna be okay." King replied.

"But what if Eda's dead?!" Luz cried, only to hear Eda snore, while seemingly talking in her sleep.

"Shiny thing. Big nest…" she said unconsciously.

"She's probably just tired from staying up all night chasing shrews and voles." Hooty spoke up as he opened the door to speak.

"Not now, Hooty." Chris grumbled.

"Sorry, I was just trying to lighten the mood… hoot." Hooty pouted a little, as he shut the door.

"Remember when her head got cut off a while back? That woman can survive anything." King explained.

Chris had a little thought on that then said, "I guess that makes sense."

Rayla and Asriel looked shocked upon hearing that, as the former asked, "Wait… her head got what?!"

"Her head was chopped off," Hilda explained, "and most of her body parts fell off at random as well."

"Please, don't remind me…" David shuddered at that memory of when her hand detached on her staff.

"And she's still alive?!" Rayla cried.

"Pretty much." Hilda shrugged, as the others nodded in agreement, "Must be a Mageling thing of sorts."

"That is something Magelings are used to doing?" Chris asked, looking at Rayla and Asriel, who seemed to have looked a little shocked, like this was new to them, "Right?"

"Kid…" Rayla looked at Hilda with a concerned look as she added, "I don't think any Mageling are capable of that trait. Heck, I don't think any mage, wizard or witch could survive something like that."

"What…?" Luz looked a little confused (and a bit nervous upon hearing that).

"That's right," Asriel agreed with Rayla, "I've never heard of any type of Mageling who's body parts could fall apart and still be alive, same for any other type of mage. Whatever Auntie Eda's got, it's definitely something else that's keeping her alive."

"So, you're saying that maybe something about her that Eda's not told us yet?" Frida asked, looking back at the Owl Lady, still out cold.

"Well, for one thing, we can't just leave her on the floor." Luz replied, looking down at her mentor.

---

"Wow, guess she wasn't kidding about the whole 'nest' thing." Chuckie said, as he, Chris, Luz and Patrick carried the still snoozing Eda into her bedroom, which was located at the front of the house where the owl eye-shaped window is. Instead of a bed, it turned out that Eda slept in a nest littered with bones and human junk.

The group then laid her down in the nest, as Eda snored after being out cold for quite a long time.

"Sorry for pushing you, Miss Eda." Luz apoligized, "Please don't hurt me when you wake up."

"Should I bap her again?" King asked as he popped up beside her.

"Just let her rest, you little goober." Luz tickled him, before heading back downstairs with the others, "Come on. Let's go downstairs."

"Yes!" Chuckie grinned, looking at his Chubby-Tracker, "Helping out elderly woman: one calorie."

"Is there really a thing for that?" Callum asked as he walked with Chuckie.

While no one was looking as they left, King gave the unconscious Eda another spank on the face, "Bap!" before running out with a mischievous cackle.

---

Little later, back downstairs…

King was busy doing a bit of drawing of some of the demons in one of the demon books, admiring every bit of detail, until he heard Luz groan, as the others watched her try (and fail) on doing a spell circle like how Eda did, only it looked like she was just making invisible circles in thin air.

"Maybe there's a special way of doing this spell circle that we're missing?" Ezran suggested.

"No, this is all she does." Luz stated, as she did her 17th try on doing a spell circle, before looking back at her video clip of Eda doing her spell circle again, "Why you gotta be so cryptic, Owl Lady?"

"Yeah, Auntie Eda can be a bit eccentric at times," Asriel admitted as he joined her, "as I said, she never got the time to visit or that there were times that I wasn't able to see her. But despite all the cripitc stuff that she's got, there's always a way around to get to her."

King then placed his notepad over the phone playing the clip, getting her attention, as well as the others, "Hey, you know what's really cryptish? Let me tell you about the most spine-chilling demon." he then revealed a picture of an odd looking creature that he drew, being a weird-looking goldfish with hands for feet, "Smoochy-pie the Sweetie Baby!"

The others all looked at him with a frown on their faces, because if that was a joke, it certainly wasn't funny at the moment.

"He's… He's a lot more threatening than his name implies." King shrugged.

"Not now, King." Patrick said, as he headed into the kitchen, "If you guys don't mind, I'm gonna go make some sandwiches if anyone would like some."

"Count me in." Hilda raised a hand.

"We love some, too." Frida replied for everyone, as Patrick headed to the kitchen.

Callum and Chris went ahead to join him in helping serve as the former said, "Here, we'll help."

Soon, it was the kids, Luz, Chuckie, Asriel, Rayla and King left in the living room, until they heard Luz let out a small sigh.

"You doing okay, Luz?" David asked, "You've been trying to do that spell circle for quite sometime."

Luz looked at him and replied, "I just want to figure out this spell. But if I don't have a magic sac, what's the point? I'll just be twirling my fingers around unmagically forever."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out," Hilda replied, as she then looked to Frida and David "and we'll be there to help you, right, guys?"

"Always." Frida replied, with David nodding in agreement.

King then looked to Luz and asked, "There's something I may not understand, Luz, why do you want to learn magic so bad, anyway?"

"If I can be honest, I felt like nobody back home." Luz admitted, "But when I first met Patrick and the others, they were one of the people who made me feel like a somebody, as well as our friends back from Hexside. Then when Patrick found the amulet, and discovered all the fantasy stuff we've been enjoying was real, I wanted to be someone who can help out in spots that Patrick might have trouble in, and becoming a witch is my chance to be that somebody." she then sighed, "Do you know what it's like to try and be that someone when there are times that no one takes you seriously?"

Hilda nodded on that as she and the others understood about Luz, back at a young age before Sophie was born and their dad passed away, Patrick and his siblings were the first ones to welcome Luz when she and her mum, Camila Noceda, had moved to Brady Oaks from the town of Gravesfield, Connecticut.

Unfortunately, upon arriving, Luz had a hard time trying to make friends, as her weirdness made her stand out of the crowd, but thanks to the support of Patrick and the others, she was finally part of something more.

"I get what you're saying too," Asriel nodded, as he said, "as you may already know, I am to become the next in line for the throne. And being a royal, there are times of learning to be good at sword fighting, diplomacy and leadership… though I'm uncertain if I could be good like my parents, but I still try…"

"But, for most of my life, I've been living quite a bit alone in the castle, for while my parents are bust, I didn't quite have a lot of real friends… well, besides Mr. Cedric and most of the castle staff… I guess…" Asriel continued, "But I never met anyone who would be my friend for me being me than just another royal. Then I got to meet you lot, and I hoped that you could be there to help me out when I'm at my lowest."

The others smiled at this (as did Patrick, Chris and Callum as they returned from the kitchen), before Luz looked at Asriel and said, "Of course, we do, Asriel. You'll always be important as being one of the first magical friends we've ever met, Prince or not."

"And we owe you much after helping us evade Ghoular." Hilda added.

King listened to what Luz said, and sighed before thinking of something as thunder rumbled from outside, then he got an idea, and looked back to Luz and said, getting her attention, "Hey, Luz… if I help you learn that spell, could we finish our lesson?"

This worked, as Luz looked to King and nodded with excitement upon hearing that, "Oh, yes, yes. You can teach me about demons all week if you help me learn this spell."

"But, don't mean to ruin the moment, but how are you going to teach her?" David asked, a little shyly.

Frida nodded in agreement and added, "Is there like some sort of demon-related method that she will need to do?"

"Well, Eda, Rayla and Asriel said mages do types of magic differently, right?" King said, in which the others nodded in response, "So there has to be a way, right? And I have a theory." King then drew something on his pad of paper with a colouring crayon, before revealing a crude image of Eda, a bottle of sorts and the words 'Magic' in capital letters, as he explained, "Every day I notice Eda sneaking drinks of this special elixir, see? Then she always gets a boost of energy, see? I think that's where she gets her powers. And I know where to get some."

"Really?"

"Sí." King replied, as Luz smiled upon hearing this.

"Thank you so much." she said, grabbing King in a hug and spun him around, "You're a prince."

"King. I'm King." he corrected.

"Right."

---

Moments later…

As everyone waited downstairs, King went back up to Eda's room on the second floor. He carefully and quietly opened the door and entered, seeing Eda still fast asleep.

"Now where could it be…" King muttered to himself, as he looked around the room, until he spotted a glass vial with orangy golden liquid in it, sealed with a cork on the table next to Eda's bed… uh… nest bed (I guess?)

King quietly walked towards the vial on the table… but stopped as he felt that he stepped on something metal. He drew his foot away quickly, just a randomly placed beartrap could snap shut on him.

"Ha! Nice try."

The trap then oddly came to life, one eye open and two small legs sprouted, as it walked away, not before saying, "Nah, my heart wasn't in it."

King continued walking until he reached the small nightstand where the elixir was, climbing up, he picked up the vial, and noticed a small tag that was on it. "'An elixir a day'. Cryptic." he said, as he slipped the tag into his collar and exited Eda's room.

---

Back downstairs

"Got it!" King exclaimed, as he showed everyone what he got in the kitchen before handing the elixir to Luz, the girl wearing a bib that said 'Chow Time' as she pulled the cork off, ready to drink it.

"Wow. I can't believe I'm about to learn magic. Real magic. This is historic!" Luz said with glee, though most of her friends were a little unsure.

"Are you sure this elixir stuff is going to help Luz with learning magic?" Callum asked.

"Of course." King replied.

"I'm with Callum," Rayla stated, "while I know about some elixirs that can help with magic, I don't think I've seen this kind before."

"Aw, c'mon, Rayla," Asriel said, "I'm sure it won't be that bad."

"That's right," Ezran nodded in agreement, "I mean, you gave us that moonberry juice and it tasted great!"

"See, the kids get it!" King gestured to Ezran and Asriel for their support.

"Well… alright," Patrick said, before looking at Luz, "go ahead, Luz, but just take one good sip first, then see how it goes."

"Okay!" Luz smiled, before closing her eyes and slowly lifting the veil up to her lips, as the glowing liquid was about to touch them, when there was a sudden flash of lighting and a boom of thunder that startled her and most of the others. That startle caused her to drop the elixir, as it fell to the ground and smashed to pieces, spilling the liquid on the floor.

"Well… that happened." Callum said, a little shocked but a tiny bit annoyed.

"Magical elixir. Gone!" Luz cried in panic, "This is awful."

"Eda's gonna be furious when she finds out what happened!" David said, quite nervous as the others as they looked at the spilled mess.

"Alright, calm down, David," Hilda said, placing a hand on his shoulder, "we've got each other to sort this out."

"That's right," Patrick nodded, as he looked to Luz, "and don't worry, Luz, we'll find another way. Besides, we've got more friends to help us out."

"That's right," Chuckie said, hoping to light the mood, "Who even needs a light spell when we have tons of lamps?"

Unfortunately, the minute he said that, the lights instantly went out, startling the group, especially the young ones.

"Wh-what happened to the lights?!" Frida panicked.

"Hooty controls the house lights." King explained, "He probably just fell asleep."

"Can a house really sleep?" Callum asked, sceptic.

"Hey, Hooty's a House Demon," King explained, "He can talk and sleep like you lot."

Suddenly, a loud crash came from the front of the house, followed by Hooty's screaming, "Hoot! Hoot!"

"Hooty!" Luz and King cried, as they and the others rushed to the living room.

Upon arrival, they were shocked and terrified by what they saw, the living room was completely trashed, the pillows of the couch torn, furniture turned and/or smashed with the windows, and clawmarks everywhere. The door was also busted down from it's hinges, Hooty's eyes had turned to X's, by a large shadowy beast. It leaves deep scratches in the wood next to Hooty, and growled when it notices the group.

"Everyone, get behind me!" Patrick said to the others, as he summoned his armor and sword.

The beast just snarled at them, and then fled. The gang then ran up to Hooty.

"Hooty! Are you in there?" Luz said, as she tapped his beak and checked his eyes, "Whatever did this escaped into the rain. What could have done that?"

"Ghoular?" David trembled.

"No way," Ezran replied, "remember what Blinky said, Delta Rune, which includes this place, is protected by a protective incantation. If it was Ghoular, how would he have gotten through?"

"Oh, my gosh. The Snaggleback!" King exclaimed, getting the kids' attention.

"The Snaggleback?" Hilda asked.

"Yes!" King replied as he explained, "It feeds during the rains. It must have stumbled across our house and seen us inside."

The group heard the beast howling from outside in the rain, as Chuckie, David and Frida looked scared at this.

Patrick looked outside, took a deep breath, and had a determined face on as he said, "Well, whatever it is, we got to find it so we can stop it from getting back inside if it comes back."

He looked to Rayla and said, "Rayla, you, Callum and Chuckie can come with me to find that thing." He then looked to the others, "The rest of you stay here and be safe."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Are you crazy?!" Chuckie defended quickly in response, "While I understand you don't like horror films, you know well that splitting up is a bad idea, especially with young kids!"

David and Frida looked a little nervous upon hearing that.

"This isn't a horror film, Chuckie," Frida stated before looking at her friend's older brother, "though he has a point! Are you certain about this?"

"Don't worry, Frida, we'll be fine, as long as we stay together with Rayla," Patrick comforted her, "and besides, Asriel and Eda will be here to help protect you. Especially once Eda wakes up."

"You got it!" Asriel nodded.

Patrick, Callum, Chuckie and Rayla rushed off into the rain outside, leaving the others back in the Owl House.

"I can't believe this is happening!" Luz said, a little nervous, "This is terrifying…" she then looked to King as she cried, "And why do you look so happy?"

The others looked at King, who looked quite giddy with excitement, as he looked back at the others and explained, "Because this is perfect! This could be a perfect lesson for you and the others."

"A lesson?!" Frida exclaimed, "What do you mean lesson?"

"Well, what if that creature comes back here?" King stated, "This would be a great way for you all to see a wild demon up close and personal."

"Y-you want to go towards a creepy b-beast?" David asked nervously.

"No way!" Luz spoke up for him, "We can't just go towards the creepy sounds of that creature!"

"Well, what if Eda gets eaten?" King spoke back, "She's upstairs and defenseless because you knocked her out."

Luz realized that he made a good point, and groaned, "Fine… but if that thing does come back, we have to be prepared."

"While I'm not keen on this, we don't quite have much choice." Chris sighed, "Alright, everyone, get into gear, we have to defend this house at all costs!"

"You got it!" Hilda saluted, while Luz, Ezran and Asriel nodded, though David and Frida, meanwhile, were starting to feel a little weary on this.

---

Meanwhile, out in the rain…

"Maybe we should turn back?" Chuckie nervously asked, just seconds upon entering the woods not far from the Owl House, as the group searched for the creature that came upon the house, and decided to investigate the forest.

"Chuckie, we just started exploring the woods, and you want to turn back the second we enter?" Rayla questioned his suggestion.

"I'm just saying that I think it best to stay safe back in the Owl House, so we're protected by a powerful witch," Chuckie explained, "that, and I have a pretty bad allergy to getting killed by mysterious beasts."

"Chuck's got a point," Callum said, "sure you and Rayla can handle this, but not us, we're the only ones who aren't armed at the moment."

Patrick turned to face Callum and Chuckie and replied, "Look, Chuckie, Callum, I know you're both scared, but we have to see what this thing is and try and see if we can find a way to stop it from getting to the others, or worse, the town of Delta Rune."

"But what about Ez and the others?" Callum asked.

"As I said before, they're safe as long as they're with Asriel and Eda."

"Asriel, I suppose, I can rely on, it's Eda I'm skeptical of." Callum stated.

Just before the talk could continue, the four heard a twig snap and rustle from some bushes nearby, which slightly startled them as it got their attention.

The three boys looked at Rayla, as she placed her finger to her lips, then carefully approached the bushes, and then jumped in and grabbed hold of the thing that was within them.

However, what… or rather, who she grabbed hold of was none other than Hogsqueal, as he frantically panicked and struggled to get loose of Rayla's grip, "Hey, hey, hey! Let me go! Don't eat me either, I'm too chewy!"

"Hogsqueal?!" Patrick said in surprise, seeing the hobgoblin again after he left chasing a bird when they first met.

Hogsqueal stopped squirming as he looked and saw Patrick and grinned, "Oh, hey, Paladin!"

"You know this guy?" Chuckie asked.

"Yeah, I met him when me, Asriel and the girls were looking for the kids when they were caught by the goblins." Patrick explained.

"And I'm so glad I was happy to help." Hogsqueal proudly said.

"Help?! You instantly left us to chase after a bird!" Patrick corrected, a small bit of annoyance in his voice.

Rayla scoffed a little as she dropped Hogsqueal on the ground before looking to the others and said, "Look, we don't have time for this. We have to find that beast before it disappears to who knows where."

"Beast? You mean Ghoular?" Hogsqueal asked as he then added before the others could respond, "I saw him a while back."

"Wait… you saw Ghoular?" Callum asked, as he and the others looked a little surprised but a little skeptic.

"Ghoular? As in Ghoular the Grimreaper?" Rayla asked.

"Yeah… we did have an encounter with that Ghoular guy a long while ago…" Chuckie answered for Rayla, before sighing, "it was not pretty."

"Yes, I saw Ghoular," the hobgoblin replied, "and he was with those nasty goblins, and they were busy chatting with their pal on something big."

"Wait… 'their pal'?" Callum asked.

"Ghoular is working with someone else?" Patrick added, a little stunned by this new bit of info, "Who?"

Hogsquael opened his mouth to respond… only to reply, "I have no idea."

This shot the group down at that.

"But he did mention that he needed the goblins for something," Hogsquael stated, "for 'something big', he said. But we'll be ready for them, with the Paladin and his sword and me, hiding in the trees… where the birds are."

"So Ghoular is up to something, and he's league with someone else." Callum said, as he looked to Patrick, "At least there's a bit of info that we can let Blinky and the others know."

Patrick nodded, "Right. But for now, we better get going back to the Owl House and-"

A sudden screech caught the group's attention, startling Hogsqueal as well, followed by a crash of glass not far off, as the boys and Rayla recognized where the sounds came from.

"Oh no! The Owl House!" Chuckie cried, as he rushed back to Eda's house.

"Hilda! Taylor!" Patrick cried, as he followed.

"And Ez!" Callum added, as he and Rayla followed.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Hogsquael cried, running after them to catch up.

After a bit of running, they arrived and rushed back to the Owl House, seeing that one of the upper floor windows was smashed open, the five reached the front door (Hooty was still out cold) as they spotted Chris approaching the archway of the front door.

"Chris!" Patrick cried, as he reached him, "You okay?"

"I'm fine, Patrick!" Chris replied, "But we have a bit of a problem."

"The beastly kind?" Callum asked for Patrick, as Chris nodded nervously.

---

The Owl House, several minutes ago…

While the boys and Rayla were searching through the woods, the others were left to defend the Owl House in case the mysterious intruder would return.

Asriel was once more dressed up in his Ralsei guise, Luz had on rubber gloves and had two bandages under her eyes like eye black, while wielding a red baseball bat.

Hilda, Ezran, David and Frida each had a weapon of their choosing as well, Hilda had with her the toy sword that was Eda had from her collectables and Ezran had a hockey stick, while David and Frida had a rolling pin and a golf club respectively.

Chris also had with him a cricket bat in one hand and a flashlight in another.

David and Ezran were also wearing football helmets and Frida wore gloves.

King, meanwhile, had a pillow taped to his chest and carried Francois, his stuffed bunny, with him.

"Alright, everyone, listen up," Chris spoke up, "Patrick and the others are currently outside looking for… whatever it was we just saw, so we're on our own in protecting this house. Suppose it comes back."

"And… what do we do if it does?" David asked, raising his shaking hand.

"We make our stand and fight back." Asriel said, proudly, "No one gets left behind."

"Well said, Asriel." Hilda smiled, Twig letting out a small yip in agreement.

Just then, they heard a loud screech from outside, startling them (Twig even jumped into Hilda's arms upon hearing that), followed by the smash glass from upstairs.

"That came from upstairs!" Ezran cried.

"Oh no," Asriel said as he realized, "Auntie Eda's up there!"

"We have to go help her! Now!" Luz agreed with Asriel, as they hurried up to the staircase, Luz using the flashlight on her phone and Chris using his flashlight to light the way.

Floorboards creaked once they reached upstairs and then carefully walked down the hallway, Twig walking by Hilda, as he sniffed a little just in case they would come in contact with the beast. As they walked, the light from both Luz's phone and Taylor's flashlight showed several claw marks down the hall.

"This almost feels like being in a horror film." Luz muttered to the others.

"Horror films?" King asked, "Like what?"

"Sort of like the Alien films or The Thing." Chris explained, "About a group of humans on expeditions, be it outer space or even in a frozen landscape, only to encounter a sinister alien lifeform that can, in either respective scenarios, hunt down the humans to kill them with bloody acid or even absorb them to take on their appearance in order to kill the group off one by one, making any of the group suspicious of one another."

"I don't like the sound of those films." Asriel said.

"Neither do we," Hilda replied, "along with Patrick, we can't stand horror films, or any films that involve out-of-control bloody gore and violence."

Before long, they stopped as they arrived at the door to Eda's room. They shared a nervous look as the doors seemed to be opened a little, until they nodded in agreement on what comes next.

Luz opened the doors all the way, and the group gasped at what they saw. It was revealed that Eda's bed was empty, and as a flash of light from the lighting lit the room, it showed most of it was damaged, with the same claw marks and a shattered window with broken glass scattered around the floor.

"Oh, my gosh. Eda!" Luz cried, as she was the first to approach Eda's bed, as it was empty and messy, and then picked up her pillow, which was now slashed.

"She must have got snaggle‐backed." King cried in worry as the others approached Luz. Asriel looked to Luz, then to the slashed pillow, looking worried as she was about what had become of Eda.

"King! You're the demon expert." Asriel said as he turned to him, "We need your help."

"Right!" King nodded, "I'll go get my demon book. Wait here."

"Whoa, no," Chris said, stopping him in his tracks, "I'll go get that book. You will wait here."

"What?! That makes no sense whatsoever!" King argued, "Firstly, you're going alone, and second, you won't know which volume you'll need to get!"

"It's okay, I'll get them." Hilda volunteered.

"No, Hilda! You're staying here with me and Luz!" Chris said to her.

"Don't worry, Chris," Asriel then said before Hilda could say anything, "She and the others will be safe as long as they're with me. I'll go with them."

Chris started to look a little uneasy at this, before looking to Asriel and said, "Alright, kids, go with him and King and try and get these book's of King's."

"Alright! C'mon!" King said, as he led Asriel, Hilda, Twig, David, Frida and Ezran back down the hall to collect the books… unaware of a shadowy figure as it snarled and crawled passed over them…

---

A little later…

"I'm quite surprised you've got both the first and second edition of these books." Hilda said with a small bit of interest, as they were returning to Eda's room with demon books in hand.

"It's always good to collect from time to time." King admitted.

"I just hope they'll be enough to know what we're up against." Ezran then said.

"Yeah…" Frida said, a little nervous (and a little uneasy) as David was, "let's hope…"

Hilda looked to her friends and asked, "Frida, are you and David alright?"

Before either David or Frida could answer, Twig suddenly barked and whimpered, as the kids and King realized something was wrong.

"Luz? Chris?" Hilda said, as she and the others hurried to Eda's room, and the minute they arrived, they looked to see… no one there.

The kids gasped a little at this, as did King as yelped with a gulp.

"Luz!" Hilda said, dropping the toy sword, as she looked around the bed, "Chris! Where are you?"

"Oh no!" King cried, dropping his books, as he pointed to the floor nearby Hilda, as the blue-haired girl looked in the direction he was pointing and gasped as she saw Luz's shoe, and picked it up as King yelped, "The Snaggleback got them!"

They gathered around Hilda, still holding Luz's shoe, as they began to worry about what had happened.

"First, Eda, and now Luz and Chris!" David said, nervously, before starting to breath heavily on what was happening.

"Don't worry, David," Hilda said, "try and be calm."

"Be calm?!" David cried, catching Hilda, and the others off guard, as he said "There's some giant creature that's stalking us around the house and picking us off one by one! Don't tell me to calm down!"

Hilda was a little taken aback at this, she had never seen David this stressed before, but before she could ask, Twig suddenly growled, getting the group's attention.

In the corner of the entrance to Eda's room, a shadowy figure was nearby, and it seemed like it might have been listening in or something.

"Wait… is that it?!" Ezran cried, causing the shadow to flee.

"You craven beast." King growled, grabbing Luz's shoe from Hilda, and charged after the shadow, "Give me back my boo-boo buddy!"

"King, wait up!" Hilda cried, as she picked up the toy sword, and she and Twig followed after King, Asriel, Frida, David and Ezran following behind her.

The kids, Asriel, Twig and King chased after the shadow, before they came to a stop at a dead end, seemingly lost it.

"Where did it go?" Frida asked, as Twig sniffed around, before growling at a closet that was slightly opened, alerting them that the Deer-Fox had picked up something inside.

The group carefully opened up the closet door, King holding up Luz's shoe as a weapon, and Hilda with the toy sword.

"Alright, on my mark, we strike it down when it's least expected." Asriel explained.

"Got it." Hilda nodded, as the group carefully entered the closet and looked around.

As they looked at was then that King spotted a shadowy figure hiding behind a curtain of clothes, and quietly pointed it out to the others, who saw and understood, before carefully approaching the curtain, ready to strike.

"There's nowhere for you to run!" King cried, bringing up Luz's shoe, ready to strike with the help of the others, as he drew the curtain of clothes away to reveal… a seemingly pink monkey with a spiky shell.

"Snaggleback?" King spoke in surprise, as the others halted what they were doing also, "Wow. You are a lot shorter in person."

"Wait, that's the terrifying snaggleback you've been talking about?" David asked in disbelief.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." the snaggleback stammered, "I-I just needed a place to hide from this storm."

"Aw, it's okay," Ezran said, "we didn't know you needed a place to stay."

"And besides, you look quite sweet… for something that's supposed to look a bit creepy." Hilda complimented, causing the snaggleback to blush a little.

"Um, Hilda, don't you remember that he's the one that broke down our door and took our friends?" Frida reminded Hilda.

"Yeah, and that's not cool, man." King scowled, "Bad snaggleback."

"I-I didn't do any of that stuff, I swear." the snaggleback explained as he defended himself, "I snuck in through a window just now."

"Huh?" King, Ezran, Frida and David were a little baffled on that, until Asriel spoke.

"Maybe he's right," he said, "maybe that wasn't him that caused all this mess."

"And besides, he looks like a nice guy," Hilda added, as she saw Twig lick the snaggleback's arm, "Twig seems to like him."

"Well, if that wasn't him," King then said, thinking "then what…"

Suddenly, there was a loud crash from above, as the startled kids, King and Twig looked up… and saw a clawed monstrous hand appear from the ceiling and grabbed hold of the equally scared snaggleback!

"Oh, no! A twist!" The snaggleback cried, as it was pulled up through the ceiling and vanished.

The group looked scared, as they heard snarls and growls from above, and stomping footsteps as it sounded like it was crawling away over them, before a bit crashes came from outside the closet, and then the door opened with a creak, revealing an even larger shadowy creature.

The creature was on all fours, and growled and snarled and even stared at the group with glowing golden eyes, during which it spat out the snaggleback's shell, hinting the poor creature's fate, as it slowly approached the scared young group.

"Oh, my." King yelped, as the group was back against the wall.

"Uh… King?" David whimpered, "Now would be a good time to do your role as 'King of Demons' now."

King looked to David as he said, then looked back to the creature and gulped, "S-stay b-back."

The creature took one step.

"Hey, hey. I am the king of demons, okay?" King cried, as the creature took another step, "And as such, I demand you to barf my friends back up."

The creature simply let out a growl as it got closer, until Hilda stepped in, sword in hand as she cried, "Don't worry, I'll handle this!"

Hilda pressed the button on the toy sword, "By the power of Skullgar, I am out of battery." the voice cried out before the voice lowered off and the lights on the sword dimmed, as the batteries finally went flat.

Hilda looked back at the creature, and then back at the sword, before tossing the toy sword at the creature as it hit it on the head, earning another growl from the beast, before it let out a screech and raised a claw.

"RUN!" King cried, as the group started to run, King ducking as the claws scored the wall where his head was a moment before.

Seeing it's prey escape, the beast screeched again before giving chase, crashing through the closet door and chased after them throughout the house. The kids, King and Twig were far more nimble than the beast, rounding corners with ease while the beast slammed into the walls.

As they continued running, David suddenly tripped, causing Frida to stop and return to help him up.

"David! Frida! Look out!" Ezran cried, Hilda turning back and gasped as she saw her friends looking up to see the beast snarl as it pounced into the air.

The two kids yelped at this, but just the beast landed on them, something else grabbed them before it did. David and Frida looked up and saw they were rescued by Rayla, who was also quite nibble to as she evaded getting slashed and attacked.

"Thanks, Rayla!" Hilda said with a smile.

"Don't thank us just yet!" Rayla said, as when the beast charged at them, about to attack, Patrick appeared and used his shield to block the attack.

"Guys!" Patrick cried to them, "Follow Rayla to safety! NOW!"

The kids didn't need to be told twice, and ran with Rayla, as Patrick nudged the shield forward, causing the beast to almost lose its balance, giving the paladin time to run before it got back on it's legs and charged after the group.

Back with the others, Rayla led the group back to Eda's room, as while King looked back to see if the beast or Patrick was behind them, an arm suddenly reached out and pulled him into the room, then Patrick lastly rushed into the room, as it closed with a squeak.

The beast entered the hallway slowly, exhaling loudly after chasing it's prey for quite a while.

Back inside Eda's room, the whole group were standing against the wall close to the door. Patrick had his hand on the Vorpal sword in preparation in case the creature came in here, Hilda was holding onto Twig, while Rayla held onto Frida and David, Asriel was next Patrick, looking nervous, along with Chuckie, and Chris, Callum and Ezran were holding on to each other for protection, only for Hogsqueal to pop in between them, and was about to ask when Callum shut his muzzle, Luz, meanwhile, was holding onto King, who was surprised to see Luz alright, but knew he had to be quiet for the moment.

Soon, the group heard footsteps outside as a shadow passed the door, sound of growling was heard from the other side too, before it grew quieter, hinting that whatever was out there had left… for now.

"Okay, I think it's gone." Patrick said, as the others took a sigh of relief and took a breather.

The first being Luz as she gave a big hug for King, "King! Oh, I'm so glad you're safe."

"Great seeing you okay, too, Luz," King replied, "But, what happened? And where did you go?"

"Chris and I were checking on Eda, and she was gone, and then you were gone." Luz explained a little, scratching the back of her head, "Also, Chris went to find help and I also tripped and lost my shoe."

"Oh, hey, you found it." she said with a smile, as she saw King still holding onto her shoe, as King handed it to her.

"Chris was looking for us when we arrived from the forest," Callum helped explain, "saying that that creature must have snatched Eda, and we had to find a way to stop that thing and get her back."

"And we also bumped into Hogsqueal and again." Patrick added.

"Hi again!" Hogsquael said as he waved hello to Luz, who then returned the wave back.

"We had to come back quickly," Chuckie spoke, "because we didn't want to find out that you were gobbled up by a snaggleback while we were out."

"Wait, snaggleback?" Hogsquael asked, "You mean Snaggy?"

Callum and Chuckie were a little alarmed at this, as the former asked, "You know that monster?!"

Hogsquael just chuckled a little at this, "No, Snaggy is no monster. He's a good buddy that I meet from time to time."

"Yeah, it turned out that the snaggleback wasn't very dangerous." Asriel said, before looking to the door, a little nervous if the creature came through, and added, "But whatever is out there is…"

As Luz was putting her shoe back on, Asriel spotted something on her barefoot, "Uh, Luz, you got something on your foot."

Luz noticed this as Ezran took it off, revealing it to be a small torn bit of paper, like a bit of a tag, and had a bit of writing on it, as Ezran looked at it.

"What does it say, Ez?" Callum asked.

"Not sure," Ezran replied, "but it only says 'keeps the curse at bay.' does that mean anything?"

"Wait, what?!" King gasped, as he quickly took the piece from Ezran's hand, and brought out his own piece, and, upon piecing them together, King read the perfectly matched and completed tag, "'An elixir a day, keeps the curse at bay.'"

"Curse?" Patrick asked, a little stunned.

"You have these sorts of things here?" Chuckie asked.

"They're magical beings," Hilda replied, "of course they'd have that type of stuff."

"She's right," Hogsquael replied, "much like here, every world and realm has many types of arts. Sculpture, mosaics, and of course…" he then suddenly spoke darkly as he said, "THE DARK ARTS."

"But still," Asriel looked to King and said, "what do you mean by curse, King?"

"Wait, what are you trying to say?" Luz then asked, a little nervous as the others.

"I'm saying that I was wrong the whole time!" King cried in shock and worry, "That's no snaggleback. Or Ghoular. Or any kind of beast. That creature is-"

Before he could finish, something burst out through the door, startling the group, and it turned to look at them, the group were shocked and terrified by what they saw.

The creature resembled a big owl monster, with black-colored eyes and long pointed ears. It had gray hair, as well as a bunch of grey hair grown from the ears. It's body was covered in dark teal fur, and had two black-grey wings. The legs had black color and the feet looked more like a bird's feet.

When Luz took a good look at the creature, most mainly the face as it glared at the group with a wicked slasher smile, that the face looked familiar, that for some reason, it looked just like-

"EDA?!"

Patrick, Asriel and the others looked at Luz after what she cried and went back to the beast with eyes the size of plates as the former gasped, "WH-THAT'S EDA?!"

The creature that was Eda let out a sinister grin, as it growled and approached them.

"Au-auntie Eda?" Asriel said, looking quite nervous, yet still shocked that that thing was his Godmother.

The creature that was Eda glared a vicious grin as it looked at Asriel, who slowly approached her.

"A-auntie Eda," he said, as he started to slowly bring up his hand to her "it's me, Asriel. R-remember?"

Eda slowly looked up to Asriel as he brought his hand close to her face… only for Eda to snarl and stalk closer, raising a claw to swipe at him. "ASRIEL!" Patrick and Luz screamed, as they quickly rushed over to Asriel, who was scared and braced.

Patrick and Luz grabbed hold of him and pulled him back, but as they did, Luz's phone fell out of her pocket, and the camera went off when it hit the floor. The flash instantly blinded Eda, making her scream. Taking the distraction to hide on a balcony, the group fled quickly, as Eda screamed, as her screeching echoed loudly in the room and around the house.

Eda stalked the room, sniffing. The group were currently hiding in a different part of Eda's room, most of them had their hands over their mouths or on their heads, while others remained still and silent, their hearts thumping like mad as they heard the creature that was once their friend searching for them.

Eda seemed to smell them, growling and sniffing closer to them. Rayla quickly and quietly grabbed a can and threw it, getting Eda's attention as growls at the sound and chased it.

"What was that?!" Chuckie quietly whispered in a panic.

"That would be what ate the snaggleback back there." Ezran stated.

"Wait, it ate Snaggy?!" Hogsqueal said in shock, before snorted with a bit of anger as he said, "That's it! That thing's going down!"

"Wait! Don't hurt her!" Asriel stopped him, "That's my auntie out there. She wouldn't hurt anyone."

"She tried to kill us!" Callum stated to him.

Luz was still stunned upon seeing her teacher in that form, "Oh, man. Did you see her eyes? They were like‐‐" she then did a gag noise as she pulled the bottom part of her eyelids, before asking, "What happened to her?"

"I'm not sure," Asriel explained, "mum and dad never mentioned anything about this to me."

"Guess there was a good reason for that too." Chris stated.

"Don't you guys see?" King said, getting the group's attention, "The elixir I gave you doesn't give Eda powers. It prevents her from turning into that thing." King then collapsed in shame, "She's turned into a nightmare and it's all my fault."

The group, especially Luz, looked at him with sad and concerned expressions as King looked back at them, "I'm so sorry. I‐I just wanted you guys to be into demons like you're into magic and paladin work and stuff. I don't have many friends, and no one even pays that much attention to me. I thought maybe if I taught you all, finally I would have people who'd care about creatures like me."

Luz felt a little guilty upon hearing this, then looked to Patrick, Asriel and the others, the former two nodded in understanding, as Luz pulled out a pen and offered it to King, "Well… let's finish the lesson."

"Huh?" King asked.

"Eda's turned into some kind of demon, and we need to find a way to save her." Luz said with a comforting smile, "So who knows more about demons than the best demon teacher in the world?"

This cheered up King as he pointed to himself, earning a nod from Luz and the others. He took the pen, and then giggled as he jumped into a hug with Luz.

"Alright, King," Patrick got the duo's attention, "What are we up against?"

"Let's see…" King brought a few leaves together onto the floor, and made it like the shape of Eda's beast form, drawing a few details to it as well, "She was bigger, covered in feathers, and had giant black eyes. Demons with black eyes are usually sensitive to light."

"That's it. Light!" Hogsqeaul said, as he spotted Luz's phone, that now had an unfortunate crack on it's screen after it was dropped earlier, "Luz, was it? Try to use your human wonder rectangle."

"Technically, it's a phone." Chris corrected.

"Whatever."

"Even if I could, I can't." Luz said, as she showed her broken screen and camera, "My camera's all blasted."

"And even if one of our's, will it still work?" Callum asked.

"Then… what about that light spell Auntie Eda showed us?" Asriel suggested

Luz sighed at that suggestion, "You saw me. I can't draw circles in the air." she then looked to her phone, as she sadly added, "I'm not like Eda."

And then something urged her to play the video she recorded of Eda showing the spell circle technique before she passed out, and did just that, seeing the video was working, despite the small bit of damage on the phone.

"The spell circle is really…" Eda's voice from the video spoke, only for the video to pause with static and a bit of glitches… and Luz saw something… something that appeared unexpectedly.

It almost looked like a symbol of sorts, if one could describe it.

The shape of the symbol was similar to the electrical symbol for an LED.

A line stretched from the bottom of the circle to about two-thirds up. A perfectly horizontal line connected two sides of the circle, one-third up from the bottom of the circle. The ends of the horizontal line were connected to the top of the vertical line. Two slanted bars cut through the vertical line just above the horizontal line. In the space between the top of the vertical line and the top of the circle, was a circle that didn't reach the top and two tangents from the circle to the top finish the symbol.

"There's a pattern in the spell circle!" Luz gasped.

"Really?" Patrick asked, as he and the others were stunned by what Luz said.

"What? Where?" King climbed onto Luz's shoulder to take a good look, as he wanted to see what Luz found.

"It looks like this." Luz said, getting a leaf and used the pen to draw over the pattern on the screen, matching it perfectly, as she then tapped the symbol she had drawn, "There."

And then it happened.

As Luz tapped the drawing of the symbol on the leaf, it suddenly began to glow.

The leaf then folded in on itself, brightening until it's a small floating ball of light.

Everyone was shocked and amazed as Luz gently cupped it in her hands, bringing it to eye level. "It's beautiful."

"Whoa… Luz… did you do that?" Hilda said, stunned.

"I think she did!" Asriel smiled.

Patrick smiled too as he looked at Luz, "Luz… I think you found your connection."

"Oh, my gosh." Luz said, wonder in her eyes, "I just did magic." she then stood up triumphantly, "I just did magic! I just did magic!"

"Shh! That's great and all that," Callum hushed, "but we're not going to stop anything with something that small."

Eda's screech echoed from inside the house, as the group looked back to where Eda was once was, then Patrick looked to the glowing light that Luz created, as the girl was looking at it too, as was Asriel and King.

"What do we do now?" David asked, nervously.

Asriel looked at the ball of light Luz made, and then thought of something before looking to the others and said, "I think we know how to get Eda back."

"You do?" Luz asked.

"You bet." Asriel nodded, "And we're gonna need all hands on deck on this plan."

The others nodded in agreement on hearing this, though David and Frida looked a little uneasy on it.

"If it's anything to help get Eda back, I'm in." Luz said, she then offered a fist bump to King as she looked at him, "Will you help us too, boo‐boo buddy?"

"I'm kind of over that nickname." King lightly scoffed, but happily returned the fist bump as he added, "But okay."

"So what's the plan?" Patrick asked.

"First," Asriel kindly took the pen from Luz, and switched on the glowing gem piece of it, as he replied, "we're gonna need bait."

---

Meanwhile, the beast that was Eda was sniffing around back in the living room. As she pounced onto a treasure chest next to the fallen door, sniffing around several items, a clicking sound soon caught her attention.

Standing in the archway of the corridor, was Hilda and King, a smirk on former's face, as she held onto the pen in her hand, clicking it as the gem on the pen sparkled on and off, next to them were David and Frida, who both had nervous grins on their faces.

"Oh, hey there, Eda," Hilda said, "my, what a lovely thing we have here. It's just so darn shiny."

"You bet it is," King followed Hilda's lead, "perfect to have in a nest, seeing it shimmer and shine with delight. Right, Frida?"

"Y-yeah," Frida said, "so sparkly and colourful. Right, David?"

David nodded his head rapidly at that.

Beast Eda stared at the pen's light, cooing in awe, before letting out a screech and lunged for it, causing Hilda and her friends to make a run for it.

As they ran down the corridors, Eda following behind them, they took turns on holding the pen, allowing each of them to get Eda's attention as she chased them, like before, due to their small size, they were easy to out maneuver her, as she slipped and slide on piles of books and papers as she chased them. Though what Hilda didn't notice was that Frida and David were downright nervous and scared as they ran, almost like they weren't having the time of their lives doing this.

Meanwhile, Luz was busy drawing on one of the walls, halfway done with drawing a larger version of the light symbol, when she and the others heard Eda screeching, knowing that she was nearly there.

Above her, Patrick and the others stood on top of some suspenders of the ceiling, all holding onto a large blanket to cover Eda when she arrives.

Soon, the three kids rushed by, as Hilda cried out, "She's coming! Finish the spell so we can-whoop!" Before she could finish her sentence, Hilda accidentally tripped over, and fell with a thud.

"Hilda!" David and Frida cried, while Patrick watched in fear for his sister.

King quickly turned around upon seeing what happened to help, and as he helped Hilda get back up, they both looked and saw Eda now approaching them, looking at them with a vicious grin, ready to slash both of them to get the sparkly pen.

Asriel, who was hiding around the corner to make sure the plan worked without a hitch, saw this, and quickly ran in front of Hilda and King.

"Auntie Eda! Stop!" he cried, arms wide to defend the two.

Then the unexpected happened…

The beast that was Eda stopped, her claws inches away from Asriel.

"Asriel, what are you…?" King could muster, as he and Hilda watched the young stand against the transformed Owl Lady.

Asriel, himself, was even more surprised that she was listening to him, before focusing on what was at hand and said, "Auntie Eda, do you recognise me? It's me, Asriel Dreemurr."

The beast still remained frozen, but tilted her head as he raised his hand and continued, "I know you're still in there, Auntie. I know that you'd never hurt me."

Finally, Asriel's hand made contact with Eda's face, stroking it, as Eda cooed a little on this, until Asriel then said, "And sorry for this, auntie. NOW!"

Right on cue, Patrick and the others jumped off the support beams, covering the blanket over Eda, who then screeched and squirmed to get out of it, while the others struggled to keep her still.

"Luz, if you've finished, do it now!" Asriel cried to Luz, as she finished drawing the symbol.

Luz then looked to Eda, who was still squirming under the covers, "I'm sorry, Eda. But it's for your own good."

With a grunt, she slammed her hand onto it, activating it's magic, just as Eda slashed out of the covers, and everyone shielded their eyes from the bright light.

Eda witnessed what was happening, and screeched in pain and agony as the bright light engulfed the room, until the beast could see only whiteness…

---

"...ntie?"

Eda groaned a little, as her eyes started to open, as she thought she heard someone, and it sound like-

"Auntie Eda!" Asriel cried, startling Eda as her eyes shot open.

"Asriel…?" Eda said, as she sat up on what appeared to be her nest bed, though the way she said it was muffed, as she had a straw in her mouth, which led to a bottle of elixir.

Taking out the straw with curiosity, it wasn't until a nearby mirror got her attention… showing her left eye and gem still black, her left ear still long and pointy, and a few feathers in her hair.

Panicking, Eda quickly slurped a bit more of the elixir with the straw, as the remaining bits of her returned to normal.

"You okay, Auntie Eda?" Asriel asked, looking at her with concern, as he gave her a quick hug.

"I… think so…" she replied, as Asriel backed away from hugging her, "W-What happened? Oh, I have the worst headache. And my mouth tastes like roadkill."

Upon saying that, Eda instantly puked on the side of her bed, revealing that she puked out an owl pellet… a really large one, until it cracked open, revealing the snaggleback, covered in slime and felt a little traumatized.

Hogsqueal had just appeared and saw the snaggleback, and looked to the little creature as he asked, "Snaggy! Are you okay?"

"I'm… fine… I think I'm just gonna… lie here for a minute." he groaned.

Eda then picked up the bottle of elixir with a little bit of confusion, "Hmm? I was looking for that."

"Actually, we found an extra one in your closet." King stated as he then came up to them.

"King?" Eda looked to King, before finally connecting the dots as she growled, "King! You stole my elixir? I ought to break every bone in your‐!"

Luckily, before she could finish, Asriel and King hushed her for a second and pointed to the other part of her room, and Eda followed where they were pointing at.

Eda looked and saw the human kids, Rayla and Twig, all gathered around Luz, as she was surrounded by balls of light despite the sounds of thunder from the storm still going on outside. Luz was drawing out another glyph and once she had finished, she activated the glyph, grinning as the ball of light joined the others, to wonder of her friends, as even Twig was playing around, trying to catch one of them.

"Wow." Eda awed, "How is she doing that?"

"I don't know, but she did it all on her own." King replied.

Ezran then noticed Eda was awake, and pointed it out to the others, as they got up and approached the Owl Lady in her nest.

"Hey, Eda," Ezran said, "you doing okay?"

Eda simply rubbed her head a little, "A small migrain, but I think I'll be fine."

"Oh, that's good," Chuckie sighed, "'cause it would be helpful if you didn't do that again while we're here, especially me."

Patrick nudged Chuckie at that, a little annoyed.

King then looked to Eda, "Hey, I, uh, kind of messed a bunch of things up back there. And I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

"Well, you better be." Eda huffed, "I got a long list of disgusting chores with your name on it." she then sighed as she looked at the others, "But it's not entirely your fault. I haven't been completely honest with you guys."

"Auntie Eda?" Asriel spoke up, "Can you tell us what's going on with you?"

"We most certainly won't judge." Callum added.

"And you can start by telling us how you became that wild looking creature that tried to attack and/or kill us." Rayla stated, Patrick and the others nodded at that, especially Luz, looking concerned.

Eda sighed, as she looked to the group, especially to her godchild, "Alright, I suppose you all deserve the truth…" she looked to Asriel as she added, "especially you, kiddo."

"When your parents and I were younger, I was cursed." Eda explained, "I don't know exactly how it happened, but it unexpectedly happened all the same…"

---

Years ago…

At a young age, Eda, in her young teens with bright orange hair and hadn't got her golden fang yet, was sitting on a slab table, with a young Asogre and Toriel by her side, as Vendel was doing some examining on her with his Heartstone staff.

"It appears that what you mentioned is true." Vendel said with a sad sigh, as Eda and the young version of Asriel's parents looked at him with worry and concern, until Vendel added, "You have been cursed."

Eda had a mixture of worry, sadness and shock on her face, as she heard Toriel lightly gasp, with Asgore trying to comfort her.

"And not just any curse," Vendel then added, "but this curse is causing you to turn into a Were-Owl."

"A w-were-owl?" Eda asked, as this new bit of info surprised Asgore and Toriel.

"Indeed," Vendel nodded, "you see, this curse is something that we have never seen before. But one thing is certain is that it originated from the Dark Arts."

"Like dark magic?" Asgore asked.

"Sort of like that, your majesty." Vendel replied, as he went over to his counter, and picked up an oval ember gem and handed it to Eda, "I would like you to take this. It will tell you when the beast's energy is bubbling to the surface. Also, I hear gems are quite fashionable for young witches like yourself."

"Vendel," Asgore then spoke up, getting the troll's attention, "is there anyway that you can be able to have some cure that can heal Eda, she's our best friend." he then looked to her as he then added, "More than that, she's more like family."

Eda and Toriel smiled warmly when he said that, the former adjusting the gem onto her sternum.

Vendel went back to his desk, and when he came back, he handed Eda a bottle of the elixir.

"What's this?" Eda asked.

"As I said, this is a very rare curse that has not been seen for a long while," Vendel explained, "but I know that this will help you with dealing with it."

"So, is it medicine to heal me of this curse?"

Vendel looked away from Eda upon hearing that, which made the three friends more concerned.

"Vendel, you can cure Eda of this with that elixir, right?" Toriel asked.

"To slow it, yes." Vendel sadly sighed, "To cure it… regrettably, no."

Asgore and Toriel were saddened by this news, but none more so than Eda, who looked horrified at this, "So… I'll be stuck with this… forever?"

"I am truly sorry, Eda," Vendel apologized to the young witch, "you must make sure to remember to drink this elixir everyday, which can keep the curse at bay and prevent you from transforming back into this owl beast."

"How… how long does this prevention last?" Eda looked to Vendel.

"With treatment, a few months." Vendel replied.

Eda looked down on the news, as Vendel then said, "You now carry a grave burden on your shoulders, Edalyne. A responsibility that you have to carry out. I'm sorry that it has happened to you, at such a young age too."

As Toriel grew misty eyed on this, Asgore returning to comforting her, Eda watched as Vendel left the room and said, "I'll give you all time to process this."

Eda then looked back to the vial of elixir that Vendel gave her, seeing her reflection as she heard Toriel and Asgore talk about what had happened.

"I can't believe this had happened," said Toriel, wiping away a few small tears, "why would someone do this, and who would have the right to do this to our friend for standing for what she believed in?"

"I'm not sure, Tori," Asgore replied with a sad sigh, "we'll try and figure this out and find whoever was responsible for this. But for now, wherever we like it or not, we need to try and get use to this new change that's come crashing on us…"

Eda was quite close to tears herself, her eyes quite misty on what had happened to her, as she continued looking at her reflection on the vial.

---

Present day

"...and now you see that if I don't take my elixir, well… that's why people call me the Owl Lady." Eda admitted, as she looked at the vial that she had just drank from earlier, before looking back to the others, "No one likes having a curse, but if you take the right steps, it's manageable."

"Whoa…" Most of the kids said in union at this info.

"I can't believe that you've been cursed at a young age." Rayla said, solemnly.

"Let's promise that we don't end up cursed ourselves…" Chuckie stated quietly to Callum, who nodded a little.

"Well, I can't believe that the king and queen knew about this as well," Patrick said, "Vendel included." he then looked to Asriel, who had a hurt face of concern, feeling a little sorry about the prince being kept in the dark about his aunt's secret.

"So are you okay?" Luz then asked.

"There's nothing for you to worry about." Eda shrugged, sitting up a little, "It's all under control.

"You sure…?" Asriel asked, skeptic.

"I promise it is, and as long as no one steals my elixir‐‐ King‐‐," Eda said that last part, as she eyed King with a glare, before looking back to the others, "then I'm fine."

She then smiled, as she looked to Luz, "But, hey, look at this. A human doing magic. Good on you, kid."

"I had a little bit of encouragement from a great teacher." Luz admitted, looking down to King with a smile.

"Oh, you…" King bashfully waved at that compliment.

"You should thank Asriel too," Patrick smiled, gesturing to the prince, "it was also his quick thinking that helped us get you back to normal."

"Really?" Eda said, looking at her godchild.

Asriel smiled a little as he blushed, "It was nothing…"

Suddenly, a familiar voice yelled from downstairs, cutting off the moment, and getting the others' attention, "Hey, hey! Is anyone there?"

"Oh crud, we forgot about Hooty!" Ezran cried, as the others remembered what happened to Hooty, as the house demon was still off the door hinges, crying for help.

"Hello? Hoot? Someone help! I'm on the floor. It's cold!"

"Hang on, Hooty," Hilda said, as she and Twig took off, "we're coming!"

"That voice. That horrific voice!" King exclaimed with annoyance as he followed her out of the room, along with David, Frida, Ezran, Callum and Chuckie.

"We'll take care of him, Eda. You stay in bed." Luz said to Eda, before picking up the snaggleback, "Come on, you goopy fella. We'll set you free now."

"Ow, ow, ow. I think my tail was digested." the snaggleback said, as he was carried back downstairs.

Patrick started heading to the door, before noticing Asriel still with Eda.

"You coming, Asriel?"

"You go on ahead," Asriel replied, "if it's okay, I… I like to have a moment with my aunt."

Patrick nodded at that, before exiting through the door.

Asriel and Eda were now left alone, as the Owl Lady noticed her nephew feeling a little down and uncomfortable.

"You… doing alright, Asriel?" she asked.

Asriel looked at his aunt, hesitating a little, before rubbing his arm and replied, "I… I'm not sure…"

Eda looked a little concerned at this.

"Why did you keep this from me from the times you visited for a short time?" Asriel asked, looking at Eda, eyes misty with worry, "Why did mum and dad keep this from me? Is this why you never came around to visit for long?"

"Steady, Asriel, calm down." Eda said, as she placed her hands on Asriel's head, holding on to it as she hushed him to relax, "Just look at me, and breath. Relax."

Asriel did just that and took a few deep breaths.

"Why didn't anyone tell me about this…?" Asriel asked, as Eda took her hands off him.

Eda gave out a comforting smile as she looked at him, "I understand that this is all new to you, kiddo… and that you may have tons more questions about what happened."

Asriel looked a little uncertain on this, but then felt the comforting hand on his shoulder as Eda continued, "I'll admit, I messed things up badly back then. When I got cursed, your parents did everything they could to find a way to understand it and perhaps even lift it. They did everything they could," Eda's sad smile soon faded as she said, "but in the end, it couldn't be done. Not even the strongest spells could reverse it. So we did our best to settle with this new addition… but there were… problems…"

Asriel looked to Eda as she continued, "Then, after they were married, I was excited to learn that they were gonna be parents. They were gonna have you. And I was happy to hear that they wanted me to be the godmother to you as well. But, sometime, after you were born… well… I… kinda went Owl Beast mode and… well… I almost hurt you."

Asriel's eyes widened at that.

"What?!" he asked, "I didn't know that happened!"

"You were still just a baby at that time," Eda calmed him down a little, as she then confessed, "but because of that I ended up pushing everyone away, my friends, my partner and even most of my family."

"You didn't need to end up being alone, Auntie." Asriel said.

"Sometimes it's better to be alone." Eda admitted.

Asriel then asked, "What do you mean?"

"Nobody could hurt you."

Asriel looked at his aunt and said, "It may look like that being alone means that no one can hurt you, but it is hurting us, the people who care for you."

Asriel then placed his hand on Eda's, "Auntie, I don't know much about how long this has been going, but unlike the others, I'm not going to be pushed away by you. I'll be sticking by you through this, as will Luz, and Patrick and the others, even if it happens again, we'll be there to help you through this."

Eda looked at her godchild, and smiled, "You sound just like your parents."

Asriel blushed a little at this, then noticed Eda getting something out of her hair, and handed it to Asriel.

It was a photo, and as Asriel looked to notice that it was during Eda and his parents' school years.

It showed Eda, a young witch, with her orange hair and no fang, along with his parents, who both looked like him when they were young. Next to them on Eda's side were two other magelings, one was a girl, ivory skin with fluffy red hair, and wore glasses with round lenses. Both her and Eda were wearing Hexside school uniforms, with yellow sleeves and leggings.

The other mageling had medium brown skin and mint-green hair, with matching darker mint green eyebrows, and green eyes. Mageling also wore round glasses and a grey earring on the right ear.

Next to them was what looked like a younger version of Cedric, only without the light grey front bangs.

While next to Asriel's parents, were three young girls, no doubt witches themselves even if they were humans. They also wore the same type of witch/school uniforms, the uniforms consisting of long navy blue hooded tunic-styled robes with a hidden pocket in each sleeve, pointed hats, stockings, and long boots along with ribbon sashes.

One girl, with a fair skin complexion, had hair that was shorter and had a red tone similar to her eyes. Her hair was parted to the middle so as not to fall over her eyes, but part of it fell between her right eye. She also had bangs framing the sides of her face and curving in, with neck-length hair curving out on the back of her head.

The second girl, with a pale skin complexion, had long lavender hair, and wore eyeglasses over her greenish teal eyes.

The third girl, also with a pale white complexion, had very-light blonde long hair and bright green eyes, looking quite a bit shy as well.

"Is this…?" Asriel asked a little, getting a response from Eda, who just gave a simple nod of her head.

"Yup, the Enchanted Eight." Eda smiled, "A couple of proud young witches, wizards and magical beings, come together to take on the world to follow our dreams to help change the world with our magic."

Asriel smiled as he looked at the picture, and was about to hand it back to Eda until she stopped him and said, "You can keep hold of that. I got a few copies."

Asriel smiled at this, and then gave Eda comfort once more, "Auntie Eda, I'm sorry again about what has happened with you. I want you to know that, in case you might think of it, none of it was ever your fault. Things just happen."

"One good thing did come out of it, though." Eda smiled.

"And what's that?" Asriel blinked.

Eda smirked and ruffled his furry head as she said, "I got you as my nephew, Asriel."

Asriel chuckled as she ruffled his fur, something that he remembered her doing when he was very young, and that he actually liked it too (it made him ticklish).

The two smiled until Asriel, touched by what Eda said, wrapped the Owl Lady in a hug… which Eda happily returned.

"You know you wanted to do this." Asriel grinned.

"This is a one time thing." Eda stated.

Eda then gently pushed Asriel away, "Alright, Little Prince, best you get on outta here, I gotta need some rest."

"Sure thing." Asriel nodded, and headed for the front door, until Eda stopped him one last time.

"And Asriel," she said, as Asriel looked at her, as she had a warm smile as she added… "from what I heard, I think you're gonna be a great king someday."

Asriel nodded on that, "Sleep tight, Auntie Eda."

"Thanks, Asriel." Eda smiled, as she saw the door to her room close.

Eda sighed with a smile on her face, before settling down in her nest bed, and, as she closed her eyes, finally went to sleep…

---

Eda then woke up, only to be in a mysterious, dark void of sorts, as she looked around, she realized she was standing in front of a door, one that brought a nervous chill down her bones, "Oh no… not this memory again."

Just then, the door opened, and from the white light, was a mysterious, wavering shadow figure, two circles of light near the top, and whispered something that was hard to make out, though it sounded quite wrapped and unknown. But as Eda looked, she knew she was looking at the mysterious stranger who was responsible for ruining her life.

"You!" she snarled, "You're the one who cursed me, aren't you?"

The figure said nothing, as it still warply whispered, as Eda tried to come close and reach, the glowing, pure white light began to engulf everything.

"Who are you? WHO ARE YOU?!"

---

Eda snapped back awake with a gasp following that dream, before looking around and let out a sigh of relief.

Though deep down, she was still determined to figure out the truth on who cursed her… and felt even scared if the answer came crashing down on her…

---

A little while, downstairs

"There we go, good as new." Callum said, as he, Patrick and most of the others had helped fix Hooty back up straight. The rain had started to clear away a little, which meant it was a good time as any to head back, after they finished fixing up their house demon buddy.

Luz, meanwhile, helped in her own way, by placing a few badges on the door, as she said to Hooty with a smile, "Welcome to the boo‐boo buddy club, Hooty."

"Finally I get to be a part of something." Hooty cheered.

While this was happening, while the others were getting things ready to make a few snacks for the journey home, Hilda was with King, Hogsquael and Snaggy, as the snaggleback, who was given his shell back by Hilda) was explaining his experience with Eda's owl beast form, "...And then she had teeth in her stomach. Teeth in her stomach! Can you believe that?"

"Oh, yeah." King said with interest, "This will make a great addition to my demon book."

"I'm kinda sorry you got caught up in all this, Snaggy," Hogsquael said to his pal, "still, glad you made it out okay."

"Thanks, Hogsquael," Snaggy smiled back, then looked to King and added, "still, that book is filled with so many interesting things." he then picked up one of the books which included info on him, "Like this. I'm one of the strongest demons on the Boiling Isles, huh?"

King, Hogsquael and Hilda looked at each other, and then back to the snaggleback blankly, as the former then said, "Yeah, I might gonna have to edit that."

"Oh…" Snaggy sighed with a bit of disappointment.

Hilda gave him and pat on the shoulder for comfort with a comforting smile to boot, but soon, as she looked around, she then noticed David and Frida, as they were talking for a moment, their faces filled with uncertainty, before deciding to leave while the others were busy.

Hilda looked confused at this, and then followed after them.

Hilda caught up to her two friends as they exited the Owl House from the back.

"Hey, guys, wait up!" she said, getting their attention, "Where are you going in such a hurry? You could wait for us until we're ready to head for home together."

Frida and David looked at each other a little, until Frida sighed and looked at Hilda.

"Hilda, David and I have been talking for quite some time now." Frida said, as Hilda started to look a little confused at this.

"What… what do you mean?" Hilda asked.

"Hilda, what happened was probably quite something that's… well…" David started to explain, rubbing his arm in the process.

"Quite exciting?" Hilda replied, hoping to finish the sentence, "I for you thought it was incredible."

Frida looked a little stumped, before she sternly said, "Hilda, are you hearing yourself right now?"

"What do you mean?" Hilda asked, confused, "This was a great adventure."

"Hilda… WE ALMOST DIED!" David cried out.

Hilda was a little taken back by this, especially this coming from David, "What?"

Frida looked to Hilda as she listed the past events, "Hilda, we almost got attacked by Ghoular when we first learned about your brother being a Paladin, we nearly got sent to prison or decapitated like Eda did with the warden, we were captured by goblins, and while you weren't there, we nearly became victims of a nightmarish detention chamber, and now we've learned that Eda's got a curse that could come out at any time and kill us!"

"But we didn't die," Hilda said, "in case you forgot, as you mentioned, my brother is the Paladin."

"But what would happen if he'd died?!" Frida snapped back, "How are we going to tell your mum about that? Especially with that rematch with Kriv, too!"

Hilda looked to Frida, as she was starting to get annoyed at this, "You know, you're not making this easy to being our friend right now."

"You think it's easy being your friend?" Frida asked, equally annoyed at this.

Hilda folded her arms as she eyed her, "I'd say I'm pretty well maintenance compared to you."

Frida just scoffed, "Well… At least I don't drag people into dangerous situations just for the fun of it."

"Well, at least I know when to have fun!" Hilda scolded, "And I know that what we've faced wasn't it!"

"Guys, stop it!" David, cutting in between them, before looking at Hilda, "Hilda, I'm sorry, it's just that… I don't think Frida and I can handle much more of this."

"But, you're our friends," Hilda explained, "we're supposed to get through this together!"

"But we can't be there to see you die!"

Hilda felt shocked, and a little hurt, upon hearing this.

"I'm sorry, Hilda," Frida then said, calming down as did David, "but I think it's best that we don't go through this for a while…"

Frida then headed off, as David looked at Hilda, feeling a little hurt upon realizing that this felt too much for them to handle.

"David, let's go." Frida called back to him.

David nodded, and hurried over to join Frida, before looking back at Hilda as he said, "I'm sorry, Hilda… it's probably for the best…"

Hilda just stood there, upset at what had happened, as David and Frida walked away from the Owl House, leaving her alone outside.

It wasn't until a little later that Patrick and the others learned what happened, and comforted her, saying that they should have a little time without all the stressful stuff that had happened, before heading off back to their respective homes.

---

Dreemurr Castle, later on…

Asriel had then returned home, and saw his parents in the living room, Toriel was relaxing on her chair, reading one of her favorite joke books, while Asgore was doing his royal workload.

Asriel looked at both of them, took a deep breath, and got their attention.

"Hey, mum, dad."

Toriel looked away from her book and saw her son, while Asgore continued his work, "Hey, Asriel. How was your day?"

"It went… well." Asriel said, a little uneasy.

Toriel noticed that something was up, and that Asriel had looked quite uncomfortable too, after being asked how his time at Eda's went.

"Is… something the matter, son?" Toriel asked.

"Nothing, it's just… Luz learned her first bit of magic."

"Asriel, that's amazing," Toriel smiled, "how did she manage to do it?"

"That's what I've wanted to tell you about." Asriel said.

Asriel looked to his mother, then took another deep breath and replied, "I know about Auntie Eda… and her curse."

Toriel looked shocked upon hearing that, and the sound of a pen dropped on the desk from Asgore added to the surprise from both Asriel's parents, as the king turned around and looked like Toriel, his face filled with shock on the news.

"How did-?"

"She kinda turned while we were at the Owl House," Asriel admitted, "Eda told us everything after Luz used her first bit of magic, a light spell, to calm her down."

Asgore and Toriel looked to their son at this info as he continued, "I know about how much you've tried to help Auntie Eda, and that you wanted to keep me safe by keeping this secret. But I want you to know that I want to help, and I wanna do whatever I can to help Auntie Eda anyway I can. Because that's what family does."

Seeing his parents in front of him, Asriel then wrapped them into a hug, for which they happily returned.

"It sure does, son," Asgore replied with a smile, as the parents and their son came out of their hug, "it sure does."

Asriel then thought of something and awkwardly asked, "Aside it being terrible… how hard was it to hang with Auntie Eda in Owl Beast form."

The king and queen looked stunned at this… and let out a small little chuckle as the latter picked up Asriel, and the family walked over to sit down as Toriel replied, "Oh, how to begin on that…"

---

Brady Oaks Museum of History and Culture

Later that night, it was after closing hours once more, though while visitors weren't allowed in after it was closed, it was about to get two unexpected visitors.

"You ready to take a peek?" Grace asked, as she and Simon had opened one of the windows of the museum, and were about to creep inside.

"You sure it's a good idea to do this, Grace?" Simon said, "What if we get caught or-?"

"Simon, relax," Grace said with a smile, before pecking him with a kiss on the cheek, "it'll be alright. Loosen up for me, babe."

Simon blushed at this, and smiled, "Alright, for you."

The two soon went inside.

Grace and Simon had a pretty long drive to get to Brady Oaks, and upon finally arriving, it was now nighttime, and they needed to complete their task, and the meetup rondevu was at the museum, but since they weren't sure if they'd be here or not, they decided to sneak in and have a nice look around, as long as they didn't get caught.

The two explored each room of the museum, enjoying every piece of artwork and architecture. When Simon looked to Grace at the uniforms that women wore back in the old days, and the 18 year old stepped behind the display, making it look like she was wearing one of the dresses, his smile warmed his heart as he blushed, earning them both a giggle.

Soon, they suddenly came to a stop at one of the larger rooms, the entrance draped in construction curtains to avoid showing what was on the other side.

Simon and Grace looked at the entrance curiously then to each other… and smiled mischievously as they went in.

The room they were in was very large, and enough to fill it with cars or something larger.

And then, they saw it.

Grace and Simon stopped in their tracks as they saw it.

Stepping forward carefully with stunned looks, they saw something hidden away under the covers, and it looked like that something was almost ¼ done or halfway complete.

Simon carefully stepped closer to the covered something, and raised his hand, like he was about to pull off the covers… until he heard Grace gasping.

He turned quickly… and saw that Grace was staring up to a terrifying troll, who growled down at her.

Simon rushed back to her and got in front of her to defend her, as the troll looked down harder on them… and spoke, "You're late."

Simon huffed, before he and Grace calmly looked at the troll, "Nice to see you too, Ghoular."

Ghoular sniffed at them, then looked around as he then asked, "Were either of you followed?"

"Uh, no," Grace replied, "you're talking to some top notch pros of not getting caught and blending in."

Ghoular just huffed at this, "You should have been here yesterday."

"Hey, we deserve a little R&R from time to time," Grace stated, "you should give us the chance to loosen up when we're out and about."

"What you Changelings should be doing is your job." Ghoular snarled.

"Oh, leave them be, Ghoular," the voice of Valron got their attention, as the Tiefling appeared, carrying a small box with an apple on top of it, "let them live a little while they're young."

"And why were you late?" Ghoular then looked to Valron, as he approached him and snatched the box from his hands, causing the apple to slide off and perfectly land in Valron's hand.

"If you like to know, I was keeping tabs on another package." Valron explained, "It seemed that this one was a little tricky to find around the rubble of Cape St George Lighthouse in Australia."

Ghoular ripped open the top of the box, got out a small piece that fit the palm of his clawed hand, and threw the box to the ground, smashing it to pieces.

"So… is this it, right?" Simon spoke up, getting both their attention, "Is the bridge… here?"

Ghoular stepped forward and took off a bit of the covers, revealing a bit of the bridge, still not yet fully built, but still being made, then, like before, the piece in Ghoular's hand glowed, and it flew up got into place on the bridge, fitting perfectly in place.

"So the bridge is nearly made?" Grace asked.

"Almost, my dear," Varlon explained, "there are still several more pieces on the way. In fact, our man from Ireland will be arriving with a few more, most of them found in some of the ruins there."

"And where's the big boss?" asked Simon.

"Horvath is away at the moment," Valron replied, "but he'll be back shortly. Says he has a few experiments to look on. And when he does come back, the bridge will soon be completed."

"And our master will soon know freedom, and glory." Ghoular snarled a grin.

Suddenly the group heard two voices.

"...and after that, they just up and arrested him!" said a male voice.

"Wait, really?" came a female voice.

Stepping out from the corner, two security guards, a male with glasses and a tuft of yellow hair, and the female with long brown hair tied in a ponytail, were currently having a conversation, as the former replied for the latter.

"Yeah. That's when I decided I should probably get a different job. I figured night guarding is much less dangerous than driving a-" the male was cut off as he spotted the group, "Hey, is someone in here?"

"You shouldn't be here," said the female guard sternly, only to lose her colour upon seeing the troll as she said, "the museum… is… closed?"

Both guards suddenly gasped in shock and horror upon seeing Ghoular, and quickly ran as quickly as they could the way they came in.

"You were followed?!" Ghoular looked to Valron with disbelief, as the Tiefling remained calm.

"Of course not," Valron replied, before grinning with a wink, "I brought you a midnight snack."

Ghoular smiled at this, and rushed after the two guards, ready to place them in his belly, while Simon and Grace looked a little unsure of this.

"Won't Horvath find out about this?" Grace asked, looking concerned as she was, as like Horvath, knew the importance of staying secretive at times.

"Oh, worry not," Valron smiled menacingly, "Horvath wouldn't expect a thing if two guards didn't go 'missing' on their job."

Grace and Simon remained unsure of this, as they heard Ghoular's roar from the corridors, while Valron smiled further and munched away on his apple.

High above the museum, through one of the roof windows… a certain raven was observing the whole thing…

---

Author's Notes:

Whoa boy... that just happened!

Looks like we got a small bit of magic lore there, and let me tell that there's more where that came from.

Next time, some more mischievous monsters... and something found in plain site!

Until next time, True Believers

Excelsior!